The Coming Food Catastrophe • Hacker News Board

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#51

Post by bell-cot » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

EddieDante wrote: post #35

bell-cot wrote: post #28

Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

Your local zoning board might object. I live in PA, and one of the neighborhood vigilantes immediately ratted me out to the local government when I started growing corn, squash, and beans in my backyard while raising a couple of chickens for eggs.

Quite true, and the potential for gardening is quite situational. OTOH, current forecasts of mega-scale hunger, famines, & death look pretty useful, if you wanted to paint such, ah, busybodies, in a rather negative light, and try to get some rules changed.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#52

Post by MaanuAir » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:45 PM UTC

sydthrowaway wrote: post #8

It is clear that Putin needs to go. By any means necessary.

And? What’s the rest of the plan?

I hear people saying that, but this is very short term with no sustainable strategy.

Just genuinely pointing out he could be replaced by worse options, and you need to plan against it as well.

There is the guy, the system he built, the persons he chose to put in place, all incentivised to continue.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#53

Post by Scoundreller » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:45 PM UTC

0xbadc0de5 wrote: post #5

Might also be worth examining the amount of crop grown, then subsequently burned in the U.S. Somewhere between 25% to 40% of corn in the U.S., up to 20% of agriculture land is devoted to ethanol production. If food production is a growing concern, it seems strange that so much agricultural production is spent on non-food producing activities.

I think it’s something like 75% of soy and corn go to ethanol and animal feed (which loses most of the nutrients in the process just to inefficiently concentrate some bits).

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#54

Post by EddieDante » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #36

EddieDante wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your local zoning board might object. I live in PA, and one of the neighborhood vigilantes immediately ratted me out to the local government when I started growing corn, squash, and beans in my backyard while raising a couple of chickens for eggs.

It also takes well over an acre to support a single person, and that's if you know what you're doing and have the time to manage a garden of that size.

I just wanted to look out my window and see something more useful than grass, OK? If I got to enjoy a couple meals out of what I grew, so much the better.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#55

Post by DANK_YACHT » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

sudden_dystopia wrote: post #34

ceejayoz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of Soylent's primary ingredients is sunflower oil, for which the world's largest producer is (drumroll please) Ukraine. Guess who's #2, and under major international sanctioning? Between them, they're about 50% of worldwide production.

You should probably avoid seed oils anyway.

Why? I’ve heard olive oil is pretty good.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#56

Post by ezekg » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

excalibur wrote: post #44

bell-cot wrote: post #28

Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

Been practicing since 2020. Never ceases to amaze me how LONG it's taking society to fall apart.

In my experience, it takes a couple years to get a decent garden going. If you're reading and you haven't yet -- start now.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#57

Post by Fargoan » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #22

sydthrowaway wrote: post #12

This is Soylent's time to shine.

One of Soylent's primary ingredients is sunflower oil, for which the world's largest producer is (drumroll please) Ukraine. Guess who's #2, and under major international sanctioning? Between them, they're about 50% of worldwide production.

We can probably up production here in North Dakota

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#58

Post by barbazoo » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

EddieDante wrote: post #35

bell-cot wrote: post #28

Tip from an old geezer: Plant Your Victory Garden Now! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

Your local zoning board might object. I live in PA, and one of the neighborhood vigilantes immediately ratted me out to the local government when I started growing corn, squash, and beans in my backyard while raising a couple of chickens for eggs.

What an outdated policy but I've heard of that happening here too, Stratas not allowing people to use their outdoor space to grow any kind of food.

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#59

Post by xwdv » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

If you have gluten intolerance there’s nothing you should be worried about? Or are these grains necessary for growing meat?

Re: The Coming Food Catastrophe

#60

Post by morsch » Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:47 PM UTC

doodlebugging wrote: post #14

From doom-scrolling the Ukraine/Russia war it is pretty obvious that Ukrainian farmers have not been idle. Battles are being fought in the treelines and along rivers next to plowed and planted fields. Hopefully some of these crops are harvested and make it to market.

I heard an interview with a farmer in Western Ukraine today. His area isn't immediately affected by the war (as in, no bombs, no mines, no occupation). His stores are still full with the 2021 harvest. The regular route would be via the black sea, but that's blockaded. He has a contract to ship some of the stored grain via train to Poland. But there's very little capacity to store his 2022 harvest.